Japan x Reader: Sore Made Oyasumi
by florinscale
Summary: A short Japan x Reader series
1. Prologue

Charred black, dyed gray, bleeding red, and flaring orange: so this is the underworld.

First of all, it was hot. No summer you've ever lived through could beat the temperature right now, but yet it was snowing. However, it wasn't the soft, drifting puffs of white you'd catch with your tongue. It was gales of ash, flurries of sparks, whirlwinds of dust and gusts of dirt. The air wasn't fresh and crisp cool like the wintertime. It was choked with smoke and the revolting reek of scorched flesh that threatened your stomach to force out today's breakfast. Hellfire cackled and roared as they continued to induce chaos and mercilessly devour the city. There were barely any buildings in sight. Most were all blown to bits by the massive blast, reduced to either heaps of unrecognizable remnants or into skeletons of their framework. Whether they housed someone under there, you had no intention to find out.

In fact, you don't even have the will sit up. Your dull (e/c) eyes were blankly fixed on particularly nothing. There was nothing worthy enough to set your eyes on.

It was hard to believe what occurred on what seemed such a normal morning. At 8 AM sharp, you left the front door of your apartment building. Turning left, you took the usual route to your workplace in which you would've reached in 20 minutes. The same instant you spotted your destination, you were blinded by an extraordinary flash of white light. A split second later, there was a powerful burst of heat and you were sent skidding across the street.

Squeezing your eyes shut, you tried to ban everything you've experienced today out of your mind and wished this was just an exceptionally bad nightmare. Oh, how you hoped it was just a dream... You don't want to live in this hell anymore.


	2. Chapter 1

"Matte, Okaa-san! _Okaa-san_!"

A woman wandered past you, her eyes hollow with anguish and staring vacantly at the barren wasteland. "Gomenasai… gomenasai…" She sobbed the muffled word over and over through the hands tightly squeezed over her mouth as she continued to aimlessly limp away from the wailing. The woman –a mother probably- never turned back to help, perhaps knowing it was impossible to get her doomed children out of the rubble.

As the dazed mother stumbled out of sight, you noticed that the shrill cries for help from the children fall into hopeless silence. _Maybe they're already dead._ Immediately, you regretted the thought as it pierced your heart. It wasn't the fault of innocent lives that caused all of this.

"(name)!"

Hope flared in your chest as you recognized the voice. Praying it wasn't some kind of hallucination, you swept your blurry vision across the desolate ground that was wavering with heat. Not so far away, your eyes focused on a familiar shape.

"Kiku!" Despite your effort to yell, your voice only rose above a strangled croak.

As if he heard your voice, the Japanese man rushed to kneel beside your body. His face as well as his clothes was smeared black with ash and soot. The brown eyes flashed in despair at the sight of you, but nonetheless quickly lifted you up and embraced you tight. You couldn't lift your arms to hug him back.

"Yokatta…" He breathed by your ear while his body trembled with relief. His voice a little steadier, he whispered, "We have to go, (name). I'll get you to a hospital somewhere. Come on."

Kiku swept you up into his arms without hesitation, all complaints about his back pains abandoned. You gasped and winced as he accidentally touched your legs. Though you felt the searing pain in your legs and feet, you never saw how bad it was until now. The skin was either scraped off by the flying debris or burnt and blistering. There were scraps of splinters buried among the cuts and burns, but thankfully none were very big. Glistening trails of blood soaked Kiku's formerly white shirt. You could tell his shirt was the least of his concerns right now as he dashed away in search for aid.

Even though he kept his pace at a fast walk, it tired him quickly. The extra weight of carrying you, the whirling confusion in his mind, and the side effects of being a nation in such a disastrous situation was wearing him out fast.

A drop of liquid hit your head. Water? It's raining? Then you noticed the murky liquid was black. Slowly, it dyed your clothes to black drop by drop as it fell steadily from the sky. You've heard about black rain before but you still thirstily wondered if it was drinkable and opened your mouth to taste at least a drop of that liquid.

"No! Close your mouth! Don't drink it!" Kiku snapped, sounding horrified.

Startled by his strict tone, you slammed your mouth shut just in time before another drop trickled down your chin. "Why?" you whimpered. "Why can't I drink it when others are?" Around you, survivors were trying to catch every drop they can. Some were already on their way to a nearby river, stained black like ink by the strange rain.

"I'll get you water later. I promise." He assured gently, as if apologizing for his previous sharpness.

"Hm…" You gave a small, quiet sigh, feeling something deep in your chest luring your consciousness away. Pressing your ear to his hot, feverish chest, you noticed his panicked heartbeat was pounding wildly but it was more than enough to lull you away to from the cruel, ugly reality.


	3. Chapter 2

The first thing you saw as you blinked open your eyes was a harsh, white light glaring back.

_ No! Is it going to happen again?_

Bracing for a wave of heat to viciously knock you off your feet, you steadily realized you were in a room. As a matter of fact, you were on soft, white bed and your wounded legs were wrapped in clean bandages. Tilting your head to get an idea of where you are, you were immediately halted by the surge of pain that bashed your dizzy head almost to the point of nausea.

"(name), you're awake!"

Through your dark and foggy eyesight, you managed to make out the blurred form of a black-haired man leaning over your body from the side of the bed. It took a moment to recognize who he was.

"Kiku…? Where are we?"

"In a hospital. How are you feeling?"

"Not good." You admitted, even though guessing that Kiku already knew the answer. Your fragile body was constantly burning and shivering with fever, there was a earthquake wracking your head, you were constantly forcing down the bile that built in your throat, and you could barely move your legs. Worst of all, it was hard to breathe. You were drawing breath in quick, shallow gasps and it felt like you were slowly suffocating to death.

Somehow you knew what was coming sooner or later too.

"Kiku…"

"Hm?" He wrapped his hands around yours. His bandaged hands were flaring hot and sweating. The Japanese man was in no better shape than you, but you know he'll survive this trial.

"I'm dying aren't I?"

"No. No you aren't." Kiku lips shakily denied, tightening the grip on your pale hands. Though his voice was encouraging, you could spot the silent plea in his agonized eyes through your cloudy vision.

"How long do I have?"

"W-wakarimasen."

More like he didn't want to tell. Specifically how much time you have left, you don't know yourself but it probably won't be too long anyway. Minutes? Hours? Days? Weeks? Actually, you don't think you'd last a week in this state.

For an unknown amount of time that sluggishly crawled on, you lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling with Kiku's hands clasped upon yours. He didn't try to rouse a conversation but sat next to you all the time, never missing an instant of your remaining lifetime.

"It must be hard to be a country." You suddenly whispered, locking your gaze with Kiku's. "To lose someone important over and over again, it must be hell."

"It is." Kiku replied softly, his voice trembling. He reached over and tucked a stray strand of hair behind your ears. A small, gentle smiled bravely formed on his lips. "But if I wasn't going through hell, I wouldn't have met you again."

_Again? What did he mean?_

"Was I worth it?" You asked drowsily, struggling to keep your eyes open.

"Yes, you were worth every step through history."

Raising his lips above your closed eyelids, he tenderly planted a kiss on your forehead. As you eventually let out a final, contented sigh, Kiku's words echoed distantly in your mind.

"Sore made oyasumi, (name)."


End file.
